Erika Murray, charged in the deaths of two babies whose remains were found in her home, is led into Superior Court on Tuesday
The Massachusetts mother charged with murder after the bodies of two infants and a fetus were found inside her rat-infested home wiped away tears Wednesday as photos of her children were displayed in court.
Erika Murray, 35, is charged over the deaths of two of the three dead babies found in the trash-strewn and insect-infested Blackstone home in 2014.
Four living children, ranging from five months to 13-years-old, were removed from the home, which was eventually torn down.
Neighbors say the property was full of 'dirty diapers, fleas and maggots' and images from the house show piles of trash filling rooms and squalid conditions.
Betsy Brown told the court: 'Horrible rotting food. Dirty diapers, lots of dirty diapers, baby bottles, maggots everywhere. It was really dark and hot. It was horrible.
'It was the worst smell I had ever smelt.'
She had called the authorities in August 2014 after a 10-year-old boy living there had asked her son for help to get a baby to stop crying, WCVB reports.
Brown said she was forced to use her own shirt to clean feces off the faces of the children as there was nothing else clean in the home.
She added: 'She had feces completely pretty much covering her. Hair, body, everything.
'Just everywhere you looked there was filth on the walls. There were little handprints, baby handprints and feces. It was horrible. It was everywhere.'
A rare display of emotion from Erika Murray - tearing up as photos of her children were shown this morning during her double murder trial. #wcvb pic.twitter.com/L1vJ0QcsPD
— Todd Kazakiewich (@ToddKazakiewich) June 5, 2019
One of the children found by Betsy Brown is pictured as the neighbor testifies Tuesday
Erika Murray, 35, is charged over the deaths of two of the three dead babies found in the trash-strewn and insect-infested Blackstone home, pictured, in 2014
Neighbors say the property was full of 'dirty diapers, fleas and maggots' and images from the house show piles of trash filling rooms and squalid conditions
Images from the house show piles of trash filling rooms and squalid conditions
Former Department of Children and Families investigator Catherine Francy testified Wednesday that Murray called her three-year-old child 'it' several times.
She said an infant and toddler found neglected in her home had never seen a doctor.
Blackstone Police Acting Chief Gregory Gilmore said Murray 'was embarrassed to have' her three-year-old and five-month-old girls. She is said to have told her older children she was babysitting them.
The older children, who appeared to have maggots in their ears, did not realize the younger ones were their siblings a judge was told.
One official said he got an eye infection after he touched something in the house.
Video footage from the scene showed police and forensic teams removing bags of trash and police say they found the skeletons of two diapered and clothed babies as as well as a fetus in a closet.
It was reported at the time that the three-year-old could not walk, had poor muscle tone and only made a few sounds. The six-month-old baby was extremely sensitive to sunlight.
It took clean-up crews 90 hours spread over four days of work to clear out Murray's house before heavy machinery was brought in to raze it to the ground.
Blackstone Police Officer Michael Pavone said of one child: 'He was basically covered in human feces. He had feces on his face and hands. His diaper was soiled.'
The officer said trash in the house was 'a couple of feet tall' with maggots all over.
The court heard further evidence Wednesday on the conditions inside the home.
Social worker Walter McClain said: 'You couldn’t tell the color of this child, because there was so much filth on her.'
But Murray's attorney says there is no evidence his client committed a crime.
Defense attorney Keith Halpern made the comments Tuesday as the trial opened in Worcester in the case against Erika Murray.
Halpern says Murray has mental health issues which contributed to the condition of the home.
He said she did not call law enforcement after the deaths as she panicked, according to reports.
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A judge is deciding the case after Murray, who pleaded not guilty, waived her right to a jury
The home where Erika Murray lived and the remains of three babies were found in 2014
It took clean-up crews 90 hours spread over four days of work to clear out Murray's house before heavy machinery was brought in to raze it to the ground
Workers in hazmat suits remove bags of waste from Erika Murray's home in Blackstone
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ShareProsecutor Christopher Hodgens said Murray's neglect caused the baby's deaths. He said Murray created 'two different worlds for her children: a world of the wanted and a world of the unwanted.'
He said: 'Erika Murray is a mother of seven children but five of those seven children were kept in absolute secrecy from the world.
'Erika Murray needlessly allowed her children to suffer in that home, and that Erika Murray caused the deaths of two of those babies.'
A judge is deciding the case after Murray, who pleaded not guilty, waived her right to a jury.
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